Sunday, February 19, 2012

Contra Nequitiam et Insidias Diaboli

Britain's best argument in favour of entomophagy has been waggling his mandibles again. The general secretary of the TUC (not, you will note, anyone from Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition or the formerly human-rights-friendly Deputy Conservatives) has expressed concern about a booklet distributed by an American preacher to pupils at some Catholic schools in Lancashire. The booklet suggests that a male's homosexuality may "stem from an unhealthy relationship with his father, an inability to relate to other guys, or even sexual abuse", though presumably not when the latter has the benefit of clergy. Of course this is all fully in accordance with the pronouncements of the sixteenth Daddy Goodspeak, as is the pamphlet's claim that homosexual acts are "disordered".

However, the Equality Act of 2010 prohibits discrimination against individuals on the grounds of sexual orientation, so Gove has been forced to choose between civilised tolerance of other people's private behaviour and the demented prejudices of a megalomaniacal Bronze Age djinn. As one would expect, Gove has chosen the better path, claiming that the Equality Act does not apply to the school curriculum. A spokesbeing for the Department for Faith Schools, who evidently lacks the Gove vision, said that "any school engaging in the promotion of homophobic material would be acting unlawfully", but Gove has the gibberings of Baroness Warsi echoing in his ears and he is, in all fairness, only a Michael Gove. And after all, what better way to eradicate bigotry than to ensure that it is properly ingrained in the first place?